Lonesome path of rocks and snow
by Nekocin
Summary: Toukairin-centric, mention Toukairin/Natsumi: The Himalayas is his girlfriend. He says that with a touch of gentleness and a flicker of honesty in his voice and in his eyes.


**Title:** Lonesome path of rocks and snow  
**Author:** Nekocin/tyreling  
**Fandom:** You're Under Arrest  
**Focus:** Toukairin Shouji, Toukairin/Natsumi  
**Other:** hetero ^^  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own the anime except for the DVDs.

* * *

**01.**

The Himalayas is his girlfriend. He says that with a touch of gentleness and a flicker of honesty in his voice and in his eyes. He's not one to let those attracted to him believe in the hopes they had pinned on him the very moment they confessed their feelings.

Often times, his rejection is taken either badly or not at all, because--they say--he is young, younger than all the team crew, and probably inexperienced in the field. The assumption never bothers him, though.

He loves climbing mountains, especially the Himalayas. Although rigid and unforgiving with the harsh weather and forbidden routes about the rocks and ravines, he tries his best to climb them≈her. Dedication through hardships will strengthen their bond and give him enough hope for their future even if she's unaware of everything.

That's the beauty of his job. Rescuing the helpless in the middle of the high mountains is his expertise.

Every day, he works hard to become stronger, to become efficient. His girlfriend probably doesn't like weak men, who can't even bear the storms and the cold she herself has been subjected to all her life. He puts his life in danger to climb her most unreachable rocks, to save those who aren't meant to die on her lands just yet. The pattern somehow points out that he could have done something else instead of climbing her walls of scorching ice.

**02.**

His friend had passed away. He had succumbed to an illness that he belatedly discovered. Toukairin couldn't attend the burial--sent off to go on another rescue mission. It's only after 2 months did he finally get permission to leave the crew for a short while, and visited the grave, armed with a large bottle of sake which he bought from a nearby shop.

His eyes had stared at the engraved kanji of his friend's name for a long time, before holding the bottle of sake above the gravestone, upside down and doused it with the liquid. In the background, he heard the ocean waves gently crash against the surface of the land and the win hummed an unheard melody.

"Hey. I'm sorry I couldn't make it." He silently vowed to visit him often. Next year. And the year after that.

**03.**

He takes his leave from a few days before 2nd anniversary of his friend's passing away, no longer deeply grieved of the loss, numbed away throughout the days. There's the old priest who offers him a place to sleep, most probably a close acquaintance of the police force. He often reminds himself of his friend; old but very experienced and wise. He decided to stay even if he had his own apartment. And besides, there's this demanding kitten who does not want him to leave, sinking her little, sharp claws into his jeans with great measure.

**04.**

Vacation will never have the same meaning in his line of work. Around midday he receives a call from some high official, who rushed through his introduction and immediately relayed an emergency rescue mission; rescuing those in need is after all his job. Not much is explained. But that's not needed at all. Almost automatically, he is up and geared, grabbing his tools and identification card and heads to the place of disaster. Absently, he notices the changes in the air≈cold≈and feels the wind nipping harshly against his face.

2 unfortunate souls are trapped on the roof of the Tokyo Tower. Typhoon winds with unusual high altitudes threaten to blow them away as if they were mere loose feathers amongst a flock of geese. The leader of the temporary rescue operation team greatly worries about the victims' safeties. Although he doesn't question the man's decision to partner him up with the officer everyone calls Tsujimoto, he does wonder about his judgment. She is athletic and strong, but inexperienced in every way, considering the fact she's from the traffic division.

They hardly exchange words≈often common courtesy during first-hand meetings. There is no need to when they're set to save human beings; one of them being her chief officer. It's then he comes to realize--although inexperienced, she makes a formidable rescuer. Headstrong and determined. It may have been because of the chief, whose life is at stake.

"Kachou!" she calls out and then turns her eyes to him. "Let me go!"

"It's too dangerous! The wind is getting stronger."

"Let me save them!"

"Your life will be in danger."

"I don't care. So let me go. Right Now!"

**05.**

He admits he is wasting his time here. He is already on his third banana and his bait has yet to get bitten. The waters are calm. Fellow-fishers are idly staring at the horizon, talking amongst each other. The fisher beside him starts complaining in an awfully familiar voice.

"We're standing here for hours and not one catch at all!"

"Natsumi-."

"Grrr! How long is this going to take, anyway? I'm beginning to lose my patience."

"Let's switch then, Natsumi."

He can't help but admit--it's a beautiful day. He'll enjoy it to its fullest. Catching the blown away hat, though, isn't exactly what he had planned on such a lazy day; getting wet in the process isn't either≈but he still emerges to the surface, completely soaked and a bit disoriented and smiles at the off-duty officers, who finally recognize him. That Tsujimoto did manage to catch both the hat and his half-eaten banana without much effort.

**06.**

He enrolls himself into Bokutou Station, in Kachou's division despite not being a traffic officer. His supervisor thinks it's best he settles down a bit from all that climbing and saving almost frozen people in hard-to-reach places. Why a traffic division, he hardly understands that himself. And why specifically Bokutou Station is also a mystery. Or maybe not... it must be the many facilities the station has to offer despite their initial tight budgets. There's a big cafeteria. There's a training center. There is a lot of food varieties to choose from. And maybe, while he's stationed here for the moment, he could use the building as a climbing pole.

"I challenge you." Tsujimoto points a gloved hand in his face, eyes already set on fire. "A battle of arm wrestling. Winner takes the food."

He stares at her, takes how everyone is staring at him with anticipating looks on their faces and maybe even a bit of fear, and places down his chopsticks.

"All right."

Must be a custom to pick on newly-stationed officers even though he's higher in rank.

The Bikers Unit begins pushing tables aside and turns the cafeteria in a small battleground. It's the beginning of his long list of winning streaks against the invincible Tsujimoto. Her stubborn personality reminds him so much of the girlfriend in his picture. Proud and unyielding. Selfish and yet still kind.

**07.**

The traffic division is oddly an interesting place. The few times he has seen them in action, so fired up, is when the Kobayakawa-Tsujimoto pair does something extraordinary, doing things that aren't in their line of work; catching robbers, challenging drag-racers, breaking rule-offenders in their own way. He's starting to see a pattern. The notorious pair from the division of misfits.

He'd like to stick around for a long while.

Women are attractive, he decides, when they work the hardest but still remain kind to everything around them. He finds himself staring at Tsujimoto Natsumi as she complains to her partner. He finds himself liking the many battles Tsujimoto challenges him with and not once ever refuses her every whim. It would have been logical if her personality were more like Kobayakawa's≈quiet, polite and serene≈but Tsujimoto isn't like that at all. (Nakajima will probably run him over, several times, with his motorcycle for ever mentioning Kobayakawa as a possible candidate.)

**08.**

"You're in love." the monk says, smoking his pipe and puffs out clouds of smoke in the air.

His girlfriend will get jealous if he succumbs to that statement. He thinks of the almost -worn picture in the back of his pocket.

"It's not obvious. But I can tell right away." the monk continues.

"It's nothing." He interjects.

"So young and you're already acting like a martyr."

"It's part of my work."

"Right. Right. You don't have to tell me if you're uncomfortable about the issue."

Uncomfortable issue? That's out of the question. He is surprised he isn't averse to the very idea of Tsujimoto, most likely, as his object of affections.

* * *

**TheNekoTalks:**

Ughh, Toukairin is so difficult to capture. ;_;

**Thank you for reading~! :D**

**.:Nekocin:.**


End file.
